Many students were curious as to how California State University, Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) move-in day for 2018 would pan out. With the many parking lot closures and two new buildings underway, how would so many students and parents make it to campus to move-in and get settled all in one day? Well, it wasn’t without some hard work.

Currently enrolled students volunteered to help move hundreds of freshman into their on-campus dorms. CSUMB provided speed packs for students to cart their belongings from the parking lot to their dorm buildings. Parking Lot 13, behind the Chapman Academic Science Center, was converted into an unloading zone for students and parents.

Many parents shared that they were only allowed 20 minutes to unload all of their children’s belongings before being asked to move along. It was not an uncommon sight to see parents or students sitting with piles of their clothes, appliances, and household items in the center of the walkway as they waited for their parents to move the car before taking their belongings to their rooms.

Exhausted mom contemplates how she will carry son’s stuff up three flights of stairs. Photo by Jessenya Guerra.

Parents and students alike were caught in a whirlwind of comforters, mini-fridges, and laundry detergent as they walked their carts from the parking lot to the dorms, back to the parking lot, and back to the dorms until they could return their carts, move their cars, and walk back to the dorm to then finally walk all of their belongings up the stairs and into their children’s rooms.

Students were red-faced, sweaty, and exhausted by the time it came to saying goodbye to their parents. It was almost impossible for them to have a genuine and heartfelt final moment, as there was so much running around that was required to get their stuff to the dorms in the first place. Luckily, most were able to unload belongings and get back on the road without any complaint.